Pet chew toy for dental self-cleaning by domestic pets

ABSTRACT

A pet chew toy allowing for the self-cleaning of teeth by domestic pets. The pet toy includes one or more cavities into which a pet&#39;s teeth may engage, and the inner and outer surfaces of the cavities may have scrubbing elements designed to enhance removal of plaque and other unhygienic products from a pet&#39;s teeth and gums. The chew toy may further include projections to enhance stabilization of the chew toy by the pet, and a reservoir and dispensing system for pet toothpaste or similar additive.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a Continuation of U.S. Utility patentapplication Ser. No. 15/472,206, filed Mar. 28, 2017, entitled “Pet ChewToy for Dental Self-Cleaning by Domestic Pets;” which claims benefit ofU.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/314,353, filed Mar. 28, 2016,entitled “Toy for a Domestic Pet to Brush Its Own Teeth;” each of whichis incorporated by reference in its entirety herein.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

Not applicable.

JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT STATEMENT

Not applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a pet chew toy and dental hygienesystem, and particularly to pet chew toy allowing for the dentalself-cleaning by domestic pets.

BACKGROUND

Maintaining the dental hygiene of domestic pets is a well-known issue.Like humans, domestic pets such as dogs and cats develop bacterialinfections, known generally as plaque, on the surface and in the spacesbetween the teeth of said pets. In addition to the malodorous breath andappearance of domestic pets suffering from an excess of plaque, it canalso precipitate the gum disease gingivitis, damage to the pet's teeth,and other material detriment to the oral health of the pet. If leftroutinely uncleaned, it can harden and become almost impossible toremove without professional assistance.

Traditional methods of cleaning the teeth of pets has involvedlabor-intensive manual cleaning by the pet owner, a process which isboth time-consuming and often results in unnecessary antagonism betweenthe domestic pet and its owner.

Wild relatives of domestic pets, such as wild dogs and wolves, use thefrictional effects of gnawing on bones and other hard objects to cleantheir teeth of plaque and residual pieces of food. The use of domesticpet chew toys as a method of mimicking these natural dental hygienemethods for domestic pets is known in the art. As a consequence, manydomestic animal chews or chew toys have been produced of rawhide orother hard surface and configured in such a way as to mimic the shapeand feel of natural bone. Other products have introduced additionalartificial features to improve upon the natural cleaning action of adomestic pet's chewing action on bone, such as the use of additionalprojections on a surface of the chew toy.

Information relevant to attempts to address these problems can be foundin US Patent Application No. 2004/0216693 to Handelsman; U.S. Pat. No.6,116,119 to Suchowski; U.S. Pat. No. 6,739,287 to Sarantis; U.S. Pat.D501,961 to Jager; US Patent Application no. 2004/0137118 to Axelrod;and U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,807,088 and 7,490,579 to Axelrod. However, each oneof these references suffers from one or more disadvantages. Oneconsistent failing of existing products relates to a domestic pet'spropensity to grip or hold an object between its front paws. Domesticpets will naturally seek to stabilize the subject of their chewingaction, allowing for a stronger and more satisfying engagement by thepet's mouth, while increasing the friction applied to the pet's teethand oral cavity by the bone or chew toy. Another failing of existingproducts is the inability to use pet toothpaste and other supplementarydental hygiene products in conjunction with the chewing action of thechew toys. This leaves the need for supplementary manual cleaning by thedomestic pet owner. Yet another disadvantage of existing products is thelack of differentiated surfaces for inner and outer domestic pet teeth.Domestic pets, such as dogs and cats, have substantially different shapeand spacing in their teeth between the front of their mouths, whereinare located canines and other long, large teeth, and the smaller, moreclosely spaced teeth in the back of the pets' mouths. The differences insize and spacing of these teeth suggest the need for different surfaceswith different textures and projections adapted to the particular needsof that portion of the domestic pet's dental structures.

For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for an improved domestic petchew toy that allows domestic pets to clean their own teeth.

SUMMARY

The present invention is directed to an apparatus that satisfies thisneed.

One possible embodiment of the invention takes the form of a chew toyfor use by a domestic pet such as a dog, cat or other domesticatedanimal. This embodiment comprises a central member for engagement of adomestic pet's oral cavity, which includes at least one inner surfacedefining a cavity and an outer surface, each or both of which may have avariety of scrubbing elements affixed to them.

Another possible embodiment comprises a central member for engagement ofa domestic pet's oral cavity, said member having a first end and asecond end. The second end further comprises one or more projections,which may be circular or otherwise shaped, which are substantially flatand oriented perpendicular to the length of the central member. Theprojections allow the member to be stood upright and gripped by adomestic pet, using its front paws.

Yet another possible embodiment includes a reservoir running the lengthof the central member of a chew toy, in which, by way of non-limitingexample, flavored toothpaste for domestic pets can be retained. Smallerdispensing holes are present in the central member perpendicular to thereservoir, allowing the toothpaste or other products to be dispensedinto the oral cavity of a domestic pet when the central member isengaged by said pet's oral cavity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with reference to the followingdescription, appended claims, and drawings where:

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the invention having a central member withan inner surface defining a cavity, perpendicular stabilizingprojections, and a plurality of scrubbing elements on the inner andouter surfaces of the central member.

FIG. 2 shows a side-view of an embodiment of the invention, showing themultiplicity of scrubbing elements projecting from the inner surfacesdefining the cavity, and the outer surfaces of the member.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the invention wherein the central memberhas inner surfaces defining two separate cavities.

FIG. 4 shows a top-down view of the embodiment of FIG. 3, with thepositioning for an optional additional reservoir to retain pettoothpaste shown at center.

FIG. 5 shows a lengthwise cut-away of the central member of theembodiment of FIG. 3, demonstrating the shape and positioning of theadditional reservoir, and smaller perpendicular holes for dispensingtoothpaste retained in said reservoir.

FIG. 6 shows a comparison between different possible sizes of anembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the Summary above and in the Detailed Description, and the claimsbelow, and in the accompanying drawings, reference is made to particularfeatures of the invention. It is to be understood that the disclosure ofthe invention in this specification includes all possible combinationsof such particular features. For example, where a particular feature isdisclosed in the context of a particular aspect or embodiment of theinvention, or a particular claim, that feature can also be used, to theextent possible, in combination with and/or in the context of otherparticular aspects and embodiments of the invention, and in theinvention generally.

The term “comprises” and grammatical equivalents thereof are used hereinto mean that other components, ingredients, steps, etc. are optionallypresent. For example, an article “comprising” (or “which comprises”)components A, B, and C can consist of (i.e., contain only) components A,B, and C, or can contain not only components A, B, and C but also one ormore other components.

The term “at least” followed by a number is used herein to denote thestart of a range beginning with that number (which may be a range havingan upper limit or no upper limit, depending on the variable beingdefined). For example, “at least 1” means 1 or more than 1. The term “atmost” followed by a number is used herein to denote the end of a rangeending with that number (which may be a range having 1 or 0 as its lowerlimit, or a range having no lower limit, depending upon the variablebeing defined). For example, “at most 4” means 4 or less than 4, and “atmost 40%” means 40% or less than 40%. When, in this specification, arange is given as “(a first number) to (a second number)” or “(a firstnumber)-(a second number),” this means a range whose lower limit is thefirst number and whose upper limit is the second number. For example, 25to 100 mm means a range whose lower limit is 25 mm, and whose upperlimit is 100 mm.

In one possible embodiment of the invention, as shown in FIG. 1, takesthe form of a chew toy having a central member. The chew toy may be madeof any suitable material, including by way of non-limiting example anynon-toxic plastic. The central member comprises at least one innersurface, defining a cavity having an open end running the length of thecentral member and an additional open side at the top end of the centralmember. Said cavity should be of sufficient depth to allow fullpenetration by the front or back teeth of a domestic pet. The size ofthe central member, and therefore relative depth of the cavity, may bevaried to suit a variety of domestic pet breeds, as shown in FIG. 6. Byproviding inner and outer surfaces for contact with the teeth and gumsof a domestic pet, faster and more complete cleaning action is achievedon the pet's teeth and gums by maximizing the area of contact andfriction between the central member and the pet's teeth and gums. Inaddition, further cleaning action is achieved by the simultaneouscontact of the surfaces of the member with the forward and inner teethof the pet.

As shown in FIG. 2, the outer surface of the central body may haveaffixed to it a plurality of scrubbing elements. As also show in FIG. 2,the inner surface defining the cavity may also have affixed to it anadditional plurality of scrubbing elements.

The scrubbing elements affixed to the outer and inner surfaces may varyin size and shape. By way of example, they could take the form ofbristles, pyramids, cones, rectangles, or any of a variety of otherdesirable configurations. The scrubbing elements affixed to the outersurface of the central member might, in one possible embodiment, be of adifferent shape or size than the scrubbing elements affixed to the innersurface, as shown in FIG. 2. Similarly, the size and shape of thescrubbing elements affixed to the inner surface might be the same asthose affixed to the outer surface of the central member. This allowsthe scrubbing elements to be adapted to the differential spacing, toothshape, and mouth size of a variety of domestic pets.

A further aspect of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1, comprisingthe substantially flat perpendicular projections. Although theembodiment shown in FIG. 1 has the projections take the form of twoflanges or separate extensions, one of skill in the art will understandthat the projection or projections can take a variety of shapes andsizes. Non-limiting examples might be a singular projection forming acircular base to the central member, or a multiplicity of flangesallowing a pet to grip the projections from a variety of angles. Theseprojections allow a pet to fully stabilize the chew toy upright usingtheir natural gripping action with the front paws.

In contrast to the rough or knobbed ends of natural bones or typical petchew toys, here the domestic pet can fully pin down and stabilize thecentral member of the chew toy such that it is fully upright andimmobile. This allows for a much strong grip on the central body by themouth of the domestic pet, increasing the friction between the surfaceof the chew toy and the pet's teeth. This allows for superior cleaningand removal of plaque, leftover food, and other detrimental materialfrom the mouth of the pet.

Yet a further aspect of the present invention is shown in FIG. 4,showing one possible embodiment of the central reservoir for toothpasteor other substances suitable for dispensing. Here, the opening allowsfor input of a pet toothpaste or other appropriate substance into thereservoir, which is dispensed through perpendicular holes to the maincavity or cavities of the chew toy. Although in this particularembodiment the reservoir takes a cylindrical form, other embodimentsmight include one or more reservoirs of different shapes or locations.

Another possible embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG. 3.Here, the central member comprises two inner surfaces, each definingseparate cavities similar to the single cavity shown in FIG. 1. Byproviding a second cavity, a domestic pet can simultaneously engage notjust the forward and rear of the pet's teeth and gums simultaneously,but on the top and bottom of the pet's mouth as well.

What is claimed is:
 1. A chew toy for pet dental hygiene, comprising: a)a central chewing member, comprising: i) at least two U-shaped groovesthat comprise, on at least a portion of all internal surfaces of said atleast two U-shaped grooves, a plurality of protruding scrubbingelements; a) wherein said at least two U-shaped grooves generally definesaid central chewing member with a first and second end; b) furtherwherein said at least two grooves are arranged parallel to each otherand perpendicular, at said second end, to an at least one bottomstabilizing portion; c) further wherein said at least two grooves areeach substantially the length of said central chewing member; d) furtherwherein said at least two U-shaped grooves are positioned on opposingsides of said central chewing member; e) further wherein each said atleast two U-shaped grooves is generally U-shaped in a verticalorientation, in cross section across said central chewing member, or acombination thereof; ii) a plurality of nub shaped elements positionedon an outside surface of said central chewing member; b) said at leastone bottom stabilizing portion, comprising: i) at least onesubstantially flat projection that stabilizes said chew toy when in use;ii) wherein said at least one projection is perpendicular to saidcentral chewing member; iii) wherein said at least one bottomstabilizing portion is configured to stabilize said chew toy in anupright position when a pet holds said at least one bottom stabilizingportion in its paws; wherein said chew toy is a unitary structure madeof a non-toxic material.
 2. The chew toy of claim 1, wherein at leastone of said at least two U-shaped grooves are sufficiently deep to cleanteeth to the gum line.
 3. The chew toy of claim 1, wherein saidprotruding scrubbing elements comprise bristles.
 4. The chew toy ofclaim 1, wherein said pet comprises a dog.
 5. The chew toy of claim 1,further wherein said chew toy is operable as a toothbrush for use bypets to brush their own teeth
 6. The chew toy of claim 1, wherein whenchew toy is in use, multiple teeth and multiple surfaces of teeth arecleaned.
 7. The chew toy of claim 1, wherein said chew toy comprises asingle, unitary structure.
 8. The chew toy of claim 1, wherein said whewtoy comprises natural rubber.
 9. A method of promoting pet dentalhygiene, comprising: a) providing a pet in need of promotion of dentalhygiene; b) providing a chew toy of claim 1; c) allowing said pet toengage with said chew toy. wherein the dental hygiene of said pet ispromoted.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein said chew toy comprisestoothpaste.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein said pet comprises a dog.12. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one of said at least twogrooves are sufficiently deep to clean teeth to the gum line.
 13. Themethod of claim 9, wherein when chew toy is in use, multiple teeth andmultiple surfaces of teeth are cleaned.
 14. A chew toy for pet dentalhygiene, comprising: a) a central chewing member, comprising: i) atleast two U-shaped grooves that comprise, on at least a portion of allinternal surfaces of said at least two U-shaped grooves, a plurality ofprotruding scrubbing elements; a) wherein said at least two U-shapedgrooves generally define said central chewing member with a first andsecond end; b) further wherein said at least two grooves are arrangedparallel to each other; c) further wherein said at least two grooves areeach substantially the length of said central chewing member; d) furtherwherein said at least two U-shaped grooves are positioned on opposingsides of said central chewing member; e) further wherein each said atleast two U-shaped grooves is generally U-shaped in a verticalorientation, in cross section across said central chewing member, or acombination thereof; ii) a plurality of nub shaped elements positionedon an outside surface of said central chewing member; wherein said chewtoy is a unitary structure made of a non-toxic material.
 15. A chew toyfor pet dental hygiene, comprising: a) a central chewing member,comprising: i) at least two U-shaped grooves that comprise, on at leasta portion of all internal surfaces of said at least two U-shapedgrooves, a plurality of protruding scrubbing elements; a) wherein saidat least two U-shaped grooves generally define said central chewingmember with a first and second end; b) further wherein said at least twoU-shaped grooves are arranged parallel to. c) further wherein said atleast two U-shaped grooves are each substantially the length of saidcentral chewing member; d) further wherein said at least two U-shapedgrooves are positioned on opposing sides of said central chewing member;e) further wherein each said at least two U-shaped grooves is generallyU-shaped in cross section across said central chewing member; ii) aplurality of nub shaped elements positioned on an outside surface ofsaid central chewing member; iii) at least one central aperture in saidfirst end of said central chewing member and an at least onelongitudinal cavity that begins at said aperture and runs at least aportion of the length of said central chewing member; iv) at least onedispensing hole communicating between said at least one longitudinalcavity and said at least two U-shaped grooves, wherein said at least onedispensing hole is perpendicular to said at least one longitudinalcavity; wherein said chew toy is a unitary structure made of non-toxicmaterial.